Air conditioning apparatus utilizing ice



Nov. 5, 1935. s. M. ANDERSON AIR CONDITIONING APPARATUS UTILIZING ICEFiled Feb. 26, 1955 Patented Nov. 5, 1935 2,020.09: AIR CONDITIONINGmaaaros' PATENT orrlca arch Samuel M. Anderson, Sharon, Mass assignor toy B. F. Sturtevant Company, Inc., Boston,

Application February 26, 1935, Serial No. 8,292

4 Claims. (01. 62-131) gers in a railway passenger car. 1

- g The present invention is an improvement over that disclosed andclaimed in my Patent No. 1,972,912, issued September 11, 1934.

o ice cakes in bulk is mounted on the under side cool the air passingtherethrough. The water by. direct contact with the lower surface of theice cakes at the bottom of the bin. 7

According to a feature of this invention tthe ice bin is provided with afloor which slopes from each side 01 the car to the center thereof,whereby, as the ice at the bottom of the bin is melted,

more ice slides down the inclined floor of the bin towards the center;the arrangement being such, that the ice always presents substantially auniform surface .of contact between water and ice, as long as there isany ice in the bin.

According to another feature of this invention,

an overflow pipe is located in the center of the bin to drain the excesswater from the melted 1 ice to the tracks. The overflow point isadjustable to compensate for the varying quantities or ice melted, dueto diflerent temperature conditions encountered in service. According toanother feature of the invention,

the air'conditioning chamber contains a precooling coil through. which a'small portion of the water normally recirculated to the ice bin forrecooling, is continuously shunted from-the main' to air coolingapparatus; the quantity of this shunted water being normally equal tothe amount oi. 1 excess water which is being continuously added to thatin the ice bin, due to the melting of the ice therein. The water afterpassing through the pre-cooling coil, passes to the overflow inthecenter of the bin and is drained as excess water to the tracks. withthis arrangement the excess water, drained to the tracks is at a higher0 temperature than the excess water which would normally be draineddirectly from the ice bin, due to its having absorbed additional heat inthe pre-cooler coil. Thus the ice in the bin is conserved to the maximumdegree possible. 5 An object of the invention is to provide anefllcient, inexpensive apparatus for the conditioning of air.

Another object of the inventioh is to provide 4 an air cooling system,utilizing ice, providing a uniform cooling efiect.

Other objects of the invention will be apparent from the followingdescriptions taken together i with the drawing.

The inventioniwill now be described with reference to the drawing, ofwhichzv Fig. 1 is a partial side view of a railway passenger carequipped with the present invention;

Fig. 2 is a sectional view along lines 2-2 of Fig. l, and

Fig. 3 is a diagrammatic view, illustrating the lzi lay-out of theapparatus.

The ice bin indicated generally by the nu flattened portion 9. 25

Just above the flattened portion 9, of the floor r and at substantiallythe lower-most point in the bin, is the pump. intake ipe ll, into whichthe ice water, to be circulated to the cooling compartment, is drawn.The pipe II is so arranged with 30 'i'ound in ordinary railwayoperation.

24, which acts to'removeobjectionable particles of dirt which might becarried into the system by the ice in the bin.

' To one box 2:, is connected the finale tip; of the pump l2and to theother box 23 is connected the return water pipe Hi from the coolingcompartment l5. It is seen that the water passes .4

longitudinally through the bin in contact with the lower surface of theice.

. The water circulated in the system is cooled by down the inclinedfloor 8, to provide at all times, solongasanyiceremainsintheblmasum'cooling water in the lowermost portionof the bin.

The ice water indrawn into the pump intake pipe passes into the pump l2,and thence through pipe i3, to the main cooling coils H, in the aircooling compartment IS. The water is recirculated then through pipe l6,back into the ice bin 6. It is preferred that two similar air coolingcompartments I5 to be provided, one in each end of the car. Fig. 3illustrates the piping for two such compartments.

A small portion of the cooling water leaving the main cooling coils I4,is shunted at the T connection |'l, through the pre-cooler coil l8, andafter passing through the pro-cooler coil, passes through the pipe l9,into the overflow pipe 20. As stated before, the amount of water shuntedthrough the pre-cooling coil is as closely as can be determined, theamount the melting ice adds normally to that in the ice bin. Thus theprecooler extracts, so to speak, additional cold energy from the excesswater so that it is drained to the tracks at a temperature severaldegrees higher than were it drained directly from the ice bin.

An overflow pipe 20, contains a plurality of openings 2|, which arespaced the heighth thereof. The sleeve 22, slidably mounted on the pipe20, is adapted to be moved up and down to cover the openings 2|," thusadjusting the overflow level to be maintained in the ice bin. Ifpreferred the openings 2|, may be tapped and provided with plugs, theoverflow, thereof then being adjusted by the removal of a plug from oneof the different openings 2|. This adjustment was provided to preventthe accumulation of too much water in the ice bin, as where, due tounusually hot weather, more water is provided by the melting ice than isexhausted by the pipe IS, in the overflow pipe 20. l

The lowermost opening 2|, is located above the intake pipe ll, so thatthe intake pipe is covered at all times. Y

Whereas one embodiment of the invention has been described for thepurpose of illustration, it should be understood that the invention isnot limited to the precise arrangement described, since many departuresmay occur to those skilled in the art, after having had access to thisdisclosure.

What is claimed is:

1. Air conditioning apparatus comprising a sump' to contain ice, meansfor flowing water through and around the ice insaid sump, an icecompartment surmounting the sump and containing ice unexposed to thewater and arranged to feed ice to the sump as ice therein melts, an

air cooling unit, cooling means in said unit for conditioning the airpassing therethrough, means for circulating water from said sump to saidcooling means, a precooler coil in said unit, means for continuouslyshunting a portion of the*water leaving said cooling means through saidcoil, an overflow pipe in said sump, means for returning the remainderof the water leaving said cooling means to said sump, and means forpassing water from said precooler coil to the water adjacent saidoverflow pipe.

2. Air conditioning apparatus comprising a sump to contain ice, meansfor flowing water through and around the ice in said sump, an icecompartment surmounting the sump and containing ice unexposed to 'thewater and arranged to feed ice to the sump as ice therein melts, an aircooling 'unit, cooling means in said unit for conditioning the airpassing therethrough, means for circulating water from said sump to saidcooling means, a precooler coil in said unit, means for continuouslyshunting a portion of the water from said cooling means through saidcoil, means for returning the remainder of the water leaving saidcooling means to said sump, an overflow pipe in said sump, means forpassing water returned from said precooler coil to the water adjacentsaid pipe, and means for adjusting the overflow point of said pipe.

3. Air conditioning apparatus comprising a sump to contain ice, an icecompartment surmounting the sump for storing ice unexposed to the waterin said sump and arranged to feed ice to the sump as the ice thereinmelts, an air cooling unit, means for flowing water in contact with thesurface of the ice in said sump and for supplying same to said unit, aprecooler coil in said unit, means for continuously shunting a portionof the water returned from said cooling unit through said coil, anoverflow pipe, an overflow chamber around said pipe communicating withthe water in said sump so as to have the same water level, means forreturning the water retumedfrom said coil to said chamber, and means forreturning the remaining portion of the water returned from said unit tosaid sump.

4. Air conditioning apparatus comprising a sump to contain ice, an icecompartment surmounting the sump for storing ice unexposed to the waterin said sump and arranged to feed ice to the sump as the ice thereinmelts, an air cooling unit, means for flowing water in contact with thesurface of the ice in said sump and for supplying same to said unit, aprecooler coil in said unit, means for continuously shunting a portionof the water returned from said cooling unit through said coil, anoverflowvpipe, an overflow chamber around said pipe communicating withthe water in said sump so as to have the same water level, means forreturning the water returned from said coil to said chamber, means forreturning the remaining portion of the water returned from said unit tosaid sump, and means for adjusting the overflow point of said pipe. U

SAMUEL M. ANDERSON.

